If you were born and raised in the United States, you’ve probably been raised to think a certain way about certain things from other cultures.
I mean, you probably think that fortune cookies are a Chinese food, right? They’re not. They are believed to have been developed in the U.S. by Japanese immigrants in the late 19th or early 20th century.
And speaking of Japanese people – if you thought people in Japan eat sushi with the rice on the outside, you’d be wrong about that, too. Japanese sushi typically looks like this:
And sorry, but traditionally, there are no California rolls or bagel rolls in Japan; they’re 100% American. Womp womp.
Tiki bars became popular in the years after World War II because our soldiers were coming home from the far Pacific with tales of Polynesia. Add some funky-looking mugs filled with alcoholic beverages (the recipes were developed by the likes of Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic – both Americans), and tropical decor that reflected Polynesia and a popular concept was born. Except there are no tiki bars in places like Bora Bora and Fiji.
And then there’s Mexican food. Or rather, what we think is Mexican food. Diana Kennedy, a food writer who’s one of THE foremost authorities on Mexican cooking, wrote in her The Art of Mexican Cooking, “Far too many people outside Mexico still think of [Mexican foods] as an overly large platter of mixed messes, smothered with a shrill tomato sauce, sour cream and grated yellow cheese preceded by a dish of mouth-searing sauce and greasy deep-fried chips.”
Exoticization
It’s called making something exoticized – the tendency of thinking about foreign cultures only in terms of how they differ from your own. This leads to thinking that if something is particularly different from your own culture, it must be a traditional thing “there.” Except it’s not.
It happens to American food, too
The same thing happens in the other direction – the “American” section in European, Asian and other supermarkets have food items such as Marshmallow Fluff, Airheads and Goldfish crackers, not necessarily because they’re super popular here (although some things are), but because they DON’T have them there, so it MUST be uniquely “American” right? (plus those highly processed foods are more shelf safe than, say, corn on the cob or fresh cranberries).
Prime examples of such “fauxthenticity” are Japanese people eating Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas (the history of how this started, back in the mid-1970s, is an example of marketing genius).
If you’ve ever been to the Netherlands, you may have seen “American style sauce” as a condiment for fries. It’s been described as a mixture of mayo and relish. Ew.
Another popular food that the Dutch (and Belgians) apparently like to eat? Filet Americain.
It’s essentially finely ground beef, eaten raw, oftentimes on bread. Again, yuck. History says it came about because American soldiers during WW2 liked to eat their steaks rare.
American style hot dogs in the UK? Try having them sold in jars (or cans!) of brine.
And if you’re in Colombia, American style hot dogs are considered to be an enormous chorizo wiener, topped with melted cheese, crumbled potato chips, various sauces and (are you sitting down?) quail eggs.
They apparently named it that because a common belief in Latin America is that people in the US eat a lot of supersized sized foods with a bunch of toppings. Because yeah, ‘Murica!
Oh, and because Americans love their pizza so much, “American style” pizza in some parts of Europe have hot dogs on them. In France, it can be hot dogs and fries. Apparently “American pizza” in Poland means it’s topped with creamed corn. And in Brazil, “California style” pizza includes pineapple, figs, canned peaches, plums, and maraschino cherries.
And let’s not even get into what people in other countries think “American style” breakfasts are. (Baked beans? Potato salad? Chicken nuggets? Hot dogs???)
Anyway, there are plenty of other “American” things marketed in other countries that are just….wrong. Or at least amusing (Hello, the American mystery of “red Solo cups”…LOL!). Check out this video or more of them:
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